What you will discover

Of all the tasks that we are required to do as parents, bringing up teenagers is by far the most difficult. It puts us to the test as parents. It takes us to the edge. We need all the help we can get. We struggle to get it right and it often leaves us and our teens feeling bewildered and confused.

So, what are the guidelines?

What are the pointers that make this period more bearable and even enjoyable? What are the tips that take the struggle out of it all? This book gives those hints.

“This book is in effect a coaching manual for parents….The pointers provided to effective parenting represent much more than a “pep talk”. The reader is specifically shown how to develop their parenting skills in a way that will enhance both their self-efficacy and self-esteem.

I strongly recommend this book for parents of adolescents. It also is a useful resource for others with a duty of care for young people in this age group.”

Professor John Taplin, former Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Countless parents have sat in my office wanting to know how to act as parents or questioning whether they had done or were doing the right thing. I have had parents from all walks of life; some who were professionals or from the shop floor, from intact or blended families, from the city or the country, from various cultures, religions and countries all ask about how to manage their teenagers.

So, if you feel like you’re struggling, join the club – it’s the common experience of parents everywhere.

It doesn’t however, have to be this way. If parents are prepared to seek advice and learn to be parents, then their children will develop like at least 80 percent of adolescents do — relatively well-adjusted and capable individuals. Our kids do turn out okay. This book shows how to make sure that almost everyone can turn out okay.

“Darryl’s communicative style will have parents finding comfort and direction as they try out their un-tested parenting skills, and grandparents nodding their head in agreement as they relate from past experiences. The Bible says train up a child in the way they should go, and when they grow old they will not depart from it.

Thank you Darryl for supporting parents in such a critical life function, raising our children, that we so often must learn by trial and error.”

It’s amazing really isn’t it to think that for almost all of us, we have had more training in learning to drive a car, use a computer or work our mobile phone than we have ever had in learning to be a parent! This book on raising adolescents is designed to assist your parenting.

For some strange reason, we seem to believe that because we have the biological means to bring a baby into this world, we automatically know how to be a parent and rear that baby through its various stages including adolescence and into young adulthood.

Wrong! Nothing can be further from the truth. We all need to learn skills.

Being a parent is a skill that is learned and typically learned on the job!

“This is the kind of book that school principals would wish that many of their parents would read and act on…it contains a wealth of practical experience about how to manage adolescents…..there is nothing theoretical about this book….and it covers nitty-gritty areas that parents often ask about. I wish this book had been around years ago.”

Chris McCabe, former Principal, Xavier College, Victoria, Australia

You will discover:

Why adolescence is so “rocky”

How to give your teenager healthy self-esteem

How you help your teenager become responsible

The four major ways in which adolescents are able to find their own identity

The three key questions that adolescents need to answer for themselves